CORNWALL Ontario – Patronage gigs are not unique to Ontario. With Premier Wynne and her team under fire for trying to give a nomination riding candidate (Andrew Olivier) a gig to drop out of the race so that another Thibault, Glen in this case an unopposed entry to the contested by election in Sudbury.

The problem with most some governments is that they collect as much taxes as they can so they can distribute them to those that support them or keep them in power. It’s not just Liberals. Conservatives do it too and so do the NDP those rare moments they get an opportunity. It can and is used essentially as a fiscal weapon.

Long time Liberal and former councilor Denis Thibault, pictured above, runs the Eastern Ontario Training Board. Lots of tax dollars funnel through there. Sadly Mr. Thibault runs it as though it’s his own money train to selective businesses in the community.

Because of his (and the Wynne governments) boycotting of this newspaper we don’t have access to funding for staff through the EOTB. Mr. Thibault doesn’t even respond to our emails. However, people like Keitha Fisher and Kim Vass -Lihou get jobs.

The Seaway News, (TC MEDIA) is trumpeting the success of a new program being run by the EOTB called Kitchen Helpers. It’s a 16 week program to help young people learn to essentially be short order cooks or close to that. The program is led by Keitha Fisher who is fast becoming the Patronage Queen of Cornwall. Ms Fisher is not a chef, not to our knowledge has a teaching diploma. She is good at doing what she’s told. She recently was on the Waterfront Committee with Mr. Thibault in the last term. She also helped kill the Farmer’s Market along with Tony Lackroix (a near runner up for Patronage Queen of Cornwall) under the guidance of another former city councilor.

And the project manager for this very expensive program to teach people how to perform minimum wage jobs? Kim Vass Lihou who has a long history with Mr. Thibault and the EOTB.

And Ms Lihou’s hubby? Why none other than Todd Lihou, editor of The Seaway News which coincidentally was the paper that shouted the praises of the program and pictured Ms Fisher, Ms Lihou and Mr. Lackroix. The Seaway News is also the largest benefactor of local advertising from……..Denis Thibault. It’s sorta called the circle jerk, but it’s all being done with a metric ton of tax dollars.

Is it illegal? No, of course not, but how moral is it for any government agency to be spending tax dollars in this nature? How many other people in the area might have been able to run this program or teach it with actual accreditation that wouldn’t have that opportunity? Were both of these positions even advertised for or did Mr. Thibault just dish them off? How many other “friends” received the bounty of tax dollars through Mr. Thibault over the years?

And how many dollars have been funneled to Mr. Thibault’s fave newspaper for such favorable coverage and exposure such as this puff piece which essentially amounts to a full page ad? When Greg Kielec was exposing scandals at City Hall what happened to Le Journal’s advertising from the EOTB or any of the chains sister papers? And what happened to said advertising when Mr. Kielec was terminated?

Dream Builder Studios? Apparently they only dimmed after the tax dollars dried up. One former beneficiary there applied to CFN to work complaining that she was now over the age limit for them to get grant dollars via Mr. Thibault. Dream Builder owner Mark Owen was very tight with Mr. Thibault and managed Liberal campaigns in the riding.

Scary enough how can we ask our government to reign in this type of behavior when our Premier herself might be investigated for her teams action in the Thibault/Sudbury mess?

And we wonder why the deficits are where they are in Ontario…..

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